The Valentine’s Day Pics On My Phone Evoked a Burst of Feelings-Reinforcing a Crucial Life Lesson!
# 1- A Little Backdrop
One of the special occasions, our anniversary in December of last year, got a little screwed up. My husband and I chose a restaurant that turned out to be a damp squib despite the picture we had in mind.
My bad though, I hadn’t done the homework properly.
More on that in another story.
My husband had promised me that he would make it up to me by taking me to one of my favourite haunts whenever I felt like it.
When I suggested that we go to ‘Music & Mountains,’ on Valentines, he complied sweetly.
Even though Italian and Continental is not one of his favourite cuisines.
“Sure sweets, wherever you want to go!”
:)
Lucky me!
I’m always game for a meal at the popular restaurant in South Delhi that goes by the name, ‘Music & Mountains.’
#2- We ordered a ‘WoodStock Roast Pumpkin & Burnt Garlic Soup.’ Here’s What We Got.
Take a look at this, as I go on to tell you about the Culinary extravaganza.
This soup was so full bodied and as I ate the first bite, I felt a burst of exotic, unfamiliar flavours and textures, smack onto my palette.
Wa! Boom! Bam!
Like a volcanic eruption of sensations in my mouth.
It felt like I was witnessing a perfectly choreographed symphony.
The smoky element of the wood stock roast pumpkin broth, was wholesome and felt like a homecoming of sorts. When you come home after spells of long-distance travel and are served a deliciously hearty meal.
That sensation of happy satisfaction.
The gulping down of inexplicable joy!
Yeah, wholesome food makes me happy.
Coupled with the bitter bite of burnt garlic. I have a thing for bitter, smoky and sour elements in food. So it punched the right notes on my tongue.
I loved the woody and smoky element of the exotic dish coupled with the how it transported me to a magical land of what have you, a meal at Hogwarts School of Magic, would be like if I were to be present there. If it existed. Definitely does, in our imagination. We can intuit what it would be like.
A soup that Harry Porter and his friends can be possibly imagined enjoying to their tummy’s delight.
It had an exotic flavour and is a deviation from the run-of-the-mill soups like minestrone or pesto cream on a regular Italian menu. I love the chef’s innovative experiments with flavours and textures in that restaurant.
#3 -The Playlist Transported Me Back to the 80’s Groove and the Beatles Jam— What I Grew Up Listening to.
For me the music in a restaurant is the dealbreaker. Not just the food and ambience alone.
It had me going down memory lane.
All the hit numbers of the 80s and early 90s -
Lady In Red …
….
Never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight …
Heart stopping Beatles’ numbers like:
Love, love me do…
…
….
You know I love you …..
…
…
Love me do!
My husband was thrilled to bits to see me grooving to the beats.
Apart from devouring the heavenly fare.
“So kicked that we got our bang for the buck,” he smiled.
He squeezed my hand and we burst out laughing.
I can never forget the twinkle in his eye with the sunlight streaming through the window and lighting his face up.
The ambience was creating a cosy, romantic vibe.
With fairy lights strewn over the fireplace and the wall shelves.
An eight-feet horizontally elongated pendant light with 30 odd dimly lit bulbs hanging over the wooden log table so imparts an ‘old world charm’ to the place.
The whole ambience of the cafe transports you to a hill station.
Of wading through the snow in Kufri only to return to piping hot chocolate in some quaint cafe. The lilting chimes at the entrance and the aroma of mocha and cappuccino beckoning inside.
The interiors have a rocky wall cladding, with a hillside cafe mood exuded by the look.
You want to hang in there a little while longer.
Or keep coming back to it one more time.
It so does not feel like you are in the heart of the concrete jungle of Delhi, to say the least.
So apt- ‘Music & Mountains.’
#4 — After the meal was Over
We decided to take a post lunch stroll in GK1, M Block market.
The weather was ideal for a Valentine’s Day date.
Spring was up the toes of February.
There was a nip in the air but not cold. It was pleasant and the perfect weather for picnics and brunches.
We checked out some stuff along the seemingly small alleyways of the market.
I always prefer high street shopping over shopping in a glitzy mall.
A mall feels claustrophobic to my senses.
A round in GK1 Market is so invigorating.
It is so fun to see the latest stuff being stocked by roadside vendors.
The sights, sounds, smells, street grub and sensations of the market are so lively and vivid.
It helps me break out of the stupor that the mind gets into at times.
And engage with life and its vibrant hues and sounds all over again.
To feel upbeat and buoyant about living.
To breathe life into life again.
One more time!
#5- “I’ve made up for the anniversary meal, haven’t I,” he brushed off.
‘Sure hun, you so did!’ I beamed back.
It was as perfect a Valentine’s as it can possibly get.
Suddenly it felt like an imaginary cloud floating above us.
My worries seemed to lift above and fly right into the cloud.
As it absorbed all my cares, turned black and disappeared.
We returned home with a pocket full of experiences and smiles in our hearts.
#6 — The Valentine’s Day Pics on my Phone Taught me an Important Life Lesson
Celebrate the small joys in life for they are the big moments.
Life is not only about celebrating the professional wins.
How about celebrating the relationships in your life?
Aren’t you grateful for those?
Don’t you want to express gratitude to the people you feel you are gifted to have in your life?
Moments that you’ll rejoice with them become memories. For life.
I know that I will remember the inane banter with my husband and how I guffawed on his jokes for an eternity.
Life is not just about the trophy that you get on reaching a professional milestone.
It’s important time and again to recalibrate the emotional quotient by hanging loose when you feel like it.
Having hot chocolate on special occasions. Dancing foot lose and fancy free. Without a care in this world.
It is these moments filled with love, laughter and fun that spark your joy quotient (JQ).
If you don’t make time to celebrate, life will pass you by in the blink of an eye.
Life is too short for regrets.
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